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Tara Isabella Burton

    Tara Isabella Burton delves into the intricate connections between faith, culture, and place, often immersing herself in unconventional spiritual practices and communities. Her writing is distinguished by its sharp analysis of religious movements and a profound interest in how individuals forge meaning in the contemporary world. Through both her fiction and non-fiction, she offers readers a compelling exploration of the frontiers between tradition and new forms of belief. Her work is marked by rigorous research and a narrative artistry that sets her apart as a distinctive voice.

    Tara Isabella Burton
    So schöne Lügen
    Self-Made
    Here in Avalon
    Social Creature
    The World Cannot Give
    Strange Rites
    • 2024

      "Rose investigates the disappearance of her irresponsible and impetuous sister who fell followed a cult-like cabaret troupe that only appears at night on a mysterious red boat that sails around New York and is blamed for several disappearances"--

      Here in Avalon
    • 2023

      An exceptional history of ideas and a contemporary critique on the story of self-making: from the Renaissance to the present day

      Self-Made
    • 2022

      "When the shy, sensitive Laura Stearns arrives at St. Dunstan's Academy in Maine, she dreams that life there will echo her favorite novel, All Before Them, the sole surviving piece of writing by Byronic "prep school prophet" (and St. Dunstan's alum) Sebastian Webster, who died at 19, fighting in the Spanish Civil War. She soon finds the intensity she is looking for among the insular, Webster-worshipping members of the school's cultic chapel choir: presided over by the charismatic, neurotic, overachiever Virginia Strauss, who is as fanatical about her newfound Christian faith as she is about the miles she runs every morning before dawn. Virginia inducts the besotted Laura into a world of transcendent music and arcane ritual, illicit cliff-diving and midnight crypt visits: a world that, like Webster's novels, finally seems to Laura to be full of meaning. But when a new, reformist school chaplain challenges Virginia's hold on the "family" she has created, and Virginia's efforts to hold onto her power become increasingly destructive, Laura must decide how far she will let her devotion to Virginia go. THE WORLD CANNOT GIVE is a meditation on the power, and danger, of wanting more than the world can give"--

      The World Cannot Give
    • 2020

      A sparklingly strange odyssey through the kaleidoscope of America's new spirituality: the cults, practices, high priests and prophets of our supposedly post-religion age.

      Strange Rites
    • 2018

      You can't fool them forever... A Ripley story for the Instagram age set in contemporary New York; a world at once sophisticated and sordid, irresistible and irresponsible, unforgettable yet unattainable Louise is struggling to survive in New York; juggling a series of poorly paid jobs, renting a shabby flat, being cat-called by her creepy neighbour, she dreams of being a writer. And then one day she meets Lavinia. Lavinia who has everything – looks, money, clothes, friends, an amazing apartment… Lavinia invites Louise into her charmed circle, takes her to the best parties, bars, the opera, shares her clothes, her coke, her Uber account. Louise knows that this can't last for ever, but just how far is she prepared to go to have this life? Or rather, to have Lavinia's life?

      Social Creature